My Stepdad's Son

I'm The Best Kind of Mess

Ashley's P.O.V

I stuffed the note into my pocket and looked in every direction. A blue ribbon and the box ajar. All I've seen so far are plain old trees. No blue ribbons or boxes or anything like that.

I was pretty much lost by now.

There were trees all around me in every direction, not a single opening to the rest of the park. If I didn't get out of here, or find that damn tree soon, I was going to be murdered in these woods.

Not like I was scared or anything. Ashley Purdy is not afraid of anything. It's just precaution, that is all.

I turned left and took a couple steps. All I saw were bare trunks. No colorful ribbons anywhere. Damn it Andy. He always has to he spontaneous, so weird and alive.

He can't just say "hey Ash be my boyfriend". No. He has to go and pull some stunt like this and get me lost in the bloody woods of a state foreign to me. I'm going to wake up tomorrow with my face all over the yellow pages.

"Damn it Ands." I murmured turning right this time. It only took me three steps this way to almost step on the small wooden box on the floor.

There was a navy blue ribbon tied around this tree with a knot. With a smile I picked up the small box and opened it to reveal another note.

Almost there. You've done quite well.
The only word I can rhyme with well is swell.
You're name is Ashley and fuck rhyming.
Look for the next clue it's by one of the statues north of where you are.

- Andy <3

I laughed out loud at his attempts at being romantic. He was so special. Honestly I didn't know anybody else like him and I had a feeling I would never get to meet someone who could come close.

With a big smile I placed the note back into the box and carried it with me.

I couldn't even believe I was doing this. I can tell you that I never pictured myself looking for clues left behind by my crush in the middle of woods in Ohio wearing Paul Stanley make up. Never in my life was this a dream of mine.

But now I couldn't ask for anything better. There was a quality to all this that made it so special. It was something I would truly never forget.

I averted my eyes to the millions of trees in front of me. Andy had said there would be statues somewhere north to my location. All I knew for sure was which way was north but I had never seen statues in this park.

It was a nice day outside today. The clouds and trees blocked the light from my eyes so I was free to walk as I pleased, looking up at the bright blue sky.

Nobody really ever truly appreciates the beauty of clouds. I mean for God's sake, it's floating water. It's up in the sky making shapes and being all fluffy. When, in reality it's just water.

Nature is weird you know. Most thing are not even what they seem. And most things as well as people are underrated. It can put two things together that were so far away to start with.

Look at Amy and Roger. They were both once married to someone else. And while they were happy with their former partners, life and nature tore them apart. Now they have each other. Once they were stranger and now they're married.

I never thought that I would just fall in love with Andy. When dad met Amy and he talked to me about her I didn't think their relationship would go that far. But they got married. And when dad told me he had a stepson, I was happy.

Never in my life had I had a brother and now I was going to finally have one. That plan backfired of course, because I know have a... boyfriend?

A blush covered my features as I realized what Andy was doing with all this. Even though we weren't in high school, and we were grown men, he still thought this was a good idea.